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Baseball

Blue Jays' pitchers eaten up by Braves in another loss

TORONTO — There were some doubles and then some trouble for Blue Jays’ second baseman Devon Travis on Tuesday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

Travis has been a doubles-hitting machine of late, his 14 doubles this season puts him one behind Boston’s Mitch Moreland for the MLB lead. The personable infielder smacked a couple more on Tuesday, but he wasn’t feeling particularly good about himself after the Jays lost to the Atlanta Braves 9-5.

In the eighth inning, with the Jays trailing 6-5, Travis was asked to lay down a bunt in an attempt to move pinch runner Darrell Ceciliani from second to third and Justin Smoak from first to second, with none out. After failing twice to lay one down, Travis struck out swinging and the next batter, Darwin Barney, hit into a line-drive double play to end the threat and the inning.

That failed attempt to score seemed to suck the life out of the home side and the Braves went on to add three more runs for their second victory in a row against Toronto.

“When you’re told to do a job, especially bunting, that’s important for this team,” said Travis, whose 12 doubles in May surpassed Aaron Hill for most in a month by a Jays second baseman. “(Those things) wins games and I got to do my job, it’s that simple.”

Jays manager John Gibbons was unusually testy following the loss when asked about why he asked Travis — who is swinging that bat as good as anyone in the Toronto clubhouse these days — to lay down a bunt.

“We’re down a run, want to get (a runner) to third base, with contact we maybe score at least the tying run or you get a big hit and you take the lead,” said Gibbons, before sarcastically thanking a reporter for asking about the bunt attempt.

The Jays had been on a roll heading into the four-game series with the Braves, who sit third in the National League East.

Toronto had won five straight heading into the first of four games against the Braves and have now lost two straight with two more to play in Atlanta, starting Wednesday night. And while the Braves have a losing record (18-22), they have a dynamite lineup from the two slot down — Brandon Phillips (.277), Freddie Freeman (.343), Matt Kemp (.348), Nick Markakis (.319) and Tyler Flowers (.347).

Freeman, an American who played for Team Canada at the recent WBC to honour his Canadian-born parents, hit his 14th home run of the year in the fifth inning of Toronto starter Marco Estrada, tying him with Aaron Judge for the MLB lead, while the Braves’ ninth hitter, Dansby Swanson, hit his third off the season off reliever Danny Barnes.

“No, we don’t think that way,” Gibbons said when asked if the two losses to Atlanta took away the sheen of the five-game win streak. “It’s competition at the highest level. I’m proud of these guys. The last two nights we haven’t been able to shut down their offence and they have a good one. Those guys in the middle, we had a tough time with them.”

Estrada struggled from the start, giving up two runs on four hits and throwing 34 pitches in the first inning. He only went six innings, giving up eight hits and five runs while striking out five.

Pillar had two more hits to give him 51 total, moving him into first place in MLB. Smoak drew three walks for the first time in a game since Aug. 29, 2015.

Phillips continued his success against Estrada with two doubles and is now 11-for-28 (.393) career off the Toronto right-hander.

Kemp extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a first inning single, the longest active streak in the NL.